To ensure that yours is not one of those households, the I.I.I. recommends asking the following 10 questions:

Have you gotten married or divorced? If you have gotten married, you may qualify for a discount on your auto insurance. Couples may well bring two cars into the relationship and two insurance companies, so take the opportunity to review your existing coverage and see which company offers the best combination of price and service.

If you are merging two households, you may need to update your homeowners insurance. And you may want to consider increasing your insurance for any new valuables received as wedding gifts, and for jewelry such as wedding and engagement rings.

After getting married, it is also important to review your life insurance needs. Becoming a couple means sharing responsibility with and for someone else; life insurance is an excellent way to ensure that the surviving spouse is taken care of in the event of the premature death of the other spouse.

If you got divorced, you will probably no longer be sharing a car and may move to a smaller home—you should inform your insurer as this will mean setting up separate auto and homeowners policies.

Have you had a baby? If you have recently added a child to your family, whether by birth or adoption, it is important to review your life insurance protection. According to a MetLife study of survivors (i.e., spouses and children) of someone who died “prematurely,” 39 percent had no life insurance at all. Of these families, 40 percent had children under age 18. Therefore, in about 16 percent of all cases survivors of premature deceased persons were families with young children of who had no life insurance.

Has your teenager gotten a drivers license? It is generally cheaper to add your teenagers to your insurance policy than for them to purchase their own. If they are going to be driving their own car, consider insuring it with your company so that you can get a multi-policy discount. And choose the car carefully—the type of car a young person drives can dramatically affect the price of insurance. You and your teenagers should choose a car that is easy to drive and would offer protection in the event of a crash.

Have you switched jobs or experienced a significant change in your salary? If you had life insurance through your former employer, and your new employer does not provide equivalent protection, you can replace the “lost” coverage with an individual life insurance policy.

Have you done extensive renovations on your home? If you have made major improvements to your home, such as adding a new room, enclosing a porch or expanding a kitchen or bathroom, you risk being underinsured if you don't report the changes to your insurance company.

Have you decided to buy a retirement or vacation home? If you are searching for your dream vacation home or a second home you might retire to, make sure you research the availability and cost of homeowners insurance before you commit to the purchase. Often, the very factors that make a vacation home seem ideal—whether it is a waterfront property or a mountain retreat—can introduce risks that, together with the fact the home is likely to be vacant much of the time, can make it costly and difficult to insure.

Have you acquired any new valuables—jewelry, electronic equipment, fine art, antiques? A standard homeowners policy offers only limited coverage for highly valuable items. If you have made purchases or received gifts that exceed these limits, you should consider supplementing your policy with a “floater,” a separate policy that provides additional insurance for your valuables and covers them for perils not included in your policy, such as accidental loss. Before purchasing a floater, the items covered must be professionally appraised. Keep receipts and add the new items to your home inventory.

Have you signed a lease on a house or apartment? If you are renting a home, your landlord is responsible for insuring the structure of the building, but not for insuring your possessions—that is up to you. Nevertheless, nearly seven in 10 renters say they do not have renters insurance, despite the fact that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, rented households are burglarized at rates about 50 percent higher than owned households. If you want to be covered against losses from theft and catastrophes such as fire, lightning and windstorm damage, you should invest in renters insurance. Like homeowners insurance, renters insurance includes liability, which covers your responsibility to other people injured at your home, or elsewhere by you, and pays legal defense costs if you are taken to court.

Regardless of whether you are an owner or renter, you will have the following options when it comes to insuring your possessions:

Actual cash value pays to replace your home or possessions, minus a deduction for depreciation.

Replacement cost pays the cost of rebuilding or repairing your home or replacing your possessions, without a deduction for depreciation.

Think carefully about what your financial position would be in the aftermath of a disaster, and make sure you have the type of policy that is right for you. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) 12 percent of people surveyed did not know the difference between actual cash value and replacement cost; it is a distinction that could represent thousands of dollars to your insurance payout in the event of a disaster.

Have you joined a carpool? If you are a frequent carpool driver, whether it is to work, or ferrying kids to school and other activities, your liability insurance should reflect the increased risk of additional passengers in the automobile. Check with your agent or representative to make sure your coverage is adequate.

Have you retired? If you commuted regularly to your job, then in retirement your mileage has likely plummeted. If so, you should report it to your auto insurer as it could significantly lower the cost of your premiums. Furthermore, drivers over the age of 50-55 may get a discount, depending on the insurance company.

As part of your annual review, it is always a good idea to talk with your insurance agent or company representative.

FTC: Your Rights: Credit Reporting

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights under the FCRA and how to order a free annual credit report.

A credit report includes information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting companies sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home.

When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, like the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

A Warning About "Imposter" Sites

The FTC advises consumers who order their free annual credit reports online to be sure to correctly spell annualcreditreport.com, or link to it from the FTC's website to avoid being misdirected to other websites that offer supposedly free reports,but only with the purchase of other products. While consumers may be offered additional products or services while on the authorized website, they are not required to make a purchase to receive their free annual credit reports.

Like My Site

Stufftoblogabout.com was recently updated

Thanks for being a fan

I've received 4 fans so far!

Followers

Top 10 Consumer Complaints

According to the FTC, for the eighth year in a row, identity theft is the number one consumer complaint category. Of 813,899 total complaints received in 2007, 258,427, or 32 percent, were related to identity theft.

Consumers reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.2 billion; the median monetary loss per person was $349, the report states.